Timmins to Temagami, Feb. 15-16

[irREVerent]

[CONTINUED...this is the remaining 1.5 days of our trip, taking us back to Temagami from Timmins. My post of the first two days, "Temagami to Timmins, Feb. 13-14" should be read first.]

Day 3 -- Friday February 15th

After a great Valentine's day dinner and stay at Cedar Meadows Resort, we got up early, had a quick breakfast, loaded up and and hit the trail in good time, as this was to be our longest day at 315 kms. The day dawned bright and sharply colder, with a wind chill of -32C, and a bit of fresh snow had fallen overnight. We left Cedar Meadows about 8:30 AM, headed back up TOP C, across the moguls on the Mattagami River bridge, and back down L25 and L31 to A111C. We then headed east for Matheson via A111C and A, making very good time (less than 2 hours) on these flat, fast trails. We decided to stop at the Chinese restaurant in Matheson again for a warm-up hot chocolate and washroom break, then continued south on A through Val Gagne to Butler Lake Truck Stop late in the morning, where we stopped to get fuel, since it was our half-way point (in trail distance) for the day. Surprisingly, in the 150 kms up to that point since we'd left Timmins, we had yet not seen a single sled on the trails.

We continued south on A to L103 (now freshly groomed...Yayyyy!), followed it all the way down to A11Q (not groomed, and needed it badly), then across to the south side of Kirkland lake, where we stopped at Timmie's for lunch, at 12:15PM. We left there about 1:00PM, and continued south on A108...but this point it had gotten very windy and overcast...flat light again!. The farther south we got on A108, the better the trail conditions got, and the fresh snow on the trees made for some good photo ops:

We continued south through Englehart to Earlton, where we turned east on A108, and then south on L189 across the open farm country north of New Liskeard. Bby then the high winds had created serious drifting in the hollows and many of the fence rows along L 189. Between the drifting and the flat light, the 20 kms of L189 became a very challenging ride to get across those open fields just north of New Liskeard. We were happy to finally hit TOP A again at the river, and quickly scooted down to A107Q and across the fields to Hwy. 11, where we turned into the Husky Truck Stop for a re-fuel, and then next door to check-in at our accommodation for the night at Auberge Country Inn. This is an older "highway-style" motel, with some renovated units and reasonable prices...rooms are not large or fancy, but are clean and comfortable. We were fortunate to be billeted on the back-side of the building (away from the highway), with our sleds conveniently parked right outside our door.

On the recommendation of our proprietor, we walked across the highway to Gilli's Truck Stop for dinner...excellent food, fast, friendly service, and interesting decor in keeping with a 'trucking" theme. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place for a meal stop if you are touring in this area.

Day 4 -- Saturday, February 16th

The next day dawned very cold, with bright sunshine and a brilliant winter blue sky. We trekked over to Gilli's again for a leisurely brekkie (home-made oatmeal porridge....mmmm!), then packed up, checked out and hit the trail by about 9:15 AM. We decided to try running down the ice trail (L 184) on Lake Temiskaming. Trying to find the stake line in among all the dozens of ice huts, plowed ice roads, and heavy drifts on the lake proved to be very tricky, but we eventually spotted it and cruised the 10 kms down to where L 184 heads off the lake and west through the south edge of Haileybury to TOP A. The land portion of L 184 had been freshly groomed and was tabletop...but unfortunately, there was a fork in the trail (with no signage) and we ended up taking the wrong (left) fork, which eventually dead-ended at a gas station. After a failed attempt to get directions to TOP A, we back-tracked to that fork, took the right branch, and got to A trail without further problem. A had also been freshly groomed and had set up beautifully with the cold temperatures overnight. Ours were the first sled tracks headed south (surprising, considering that it was Saturday morning of Family Day long weekend), and conditions were awesome!...as can be seen in the following pics:

We got down to Latchford in very good time, crossed the A trail stake line on Bay Lake, crossed Hwy. 11, then hit the high-speed Roosevelt Road run south, followed by the tighter, slower power-line section of A just north of Temagami. We stopped to take a couple of pics at the Net Creek dam:

We rolled into Northland Paradise in Temagami at about 11:00 AM...less than 2 hours after leaving New Liskeard. We had a nice lunch, and then loaded the trailer and hit the highway for home. Total trail mileage for the morning was about 95 kms.

All-in-all, it was a great 3+ day mini-trip...855 kms in all. Mother Nature certainly presented us with a variety of weather challenges along the way, but it was all part of the experience. And now that we've had the "fun" of losing a bag on the trail, I hope that's the last time that ever happens to us!

I never get tired of riding the trails of northern Ontario...

[zrtkat]

#1irREVerent

I really enjoyed your trail reports and pictures, it looked like the trails where in awesome shape and nice pictures also

makes me sad zrtkat& crew will not be riding this year

thanks for sharing your adventure

zrtkat

[slomo]

Certainly an inspirational post! Thanks for the time spent writing and providing the pictures. Readers get more out of these stories than any of the snowmobiler magazines we get in the mail.

[extreme600]

Certainly an inspirational post! Thanks for the time spent writing and providing the pictures. Readers get more out of these stories than any of the snowmobiler magazines we get in the mail.

X2

That is the truth!!!

[Turbo Doo]

Great post and pics..

[sledjunk]

Great report IrREV! At least it wasn't a yellow bag bouncing down the trail (this time)